Apple – Xserve
There are some people who are having the wrong impression that I have sold out to Apple and used government money to buy the more expensive Apple hardware instead of servers from the likes of Compaq and IBM. No, I refuse to go into the debate of buying DIY servers since support from these resellers is close to nil (they tend to pass the blame on to others if and when problems start cropping up).
Just to clear this up since I am starting to look like a bad guy (these people are starting to disseminate negative info about me), here’s the background on that purchase.
First, the specifications were done by my technical staff. I let them decide since I was evidently leaning towards Apple but at the end of the day, they are the ones who will actually manage the servers. It wouldn’t have made a difference if IBM servers were purchased instead since we are in dire need of server upgrades. However, the technical staff decided to go with the XServes. (which made me happy, being a Mac advocate)
Second, my technical staff and I went through the exercise of having other vendors match the Apple offer regardless of the architecture differences. We were after the price/performance as well as interoperability with our storage solution. Whilst the other vendors might deny it but as of that time, not a single one of them can match the offer – their offers were way over our budget. I am very sorry but the details on the offer of Apple is confidential — between Apple, UP and the national government. If you want the details, ask UP.
Third, the purchase was recommended by me (after the above-mentioned exercises) but was authorized and approved by my bosses. Even if, hypothetically speaking, I could have been influenced by Apple or to put it bluntly bribed (which, btw, is not in Apple’s vocabulary!), how can I buy out all of these people to authorize and approve it (btw, it went through several UP lawyers and Vice-Presidents before the UP President signed it)? Shesh! Be realistic, folks. This is UP and you know how UP folks are with regards to graft and corruption! [Notorious? Haha! Just kidding!] So, put your imaginations to good use instead!
Lastly, the deal was realized after my term. If it were done maliciously, it would have been impossible to realize it without having my successor as an accessory to the crime, right?
As for the technical aspects of the XServes, whilst the models we purchased were not the top-of-the-line Xeon-based XServes available today, the G5s are more than enough for our needs. [you'd say obsolete but hey, you'd be surprised to find out what servers are running UP's services today!] Whilst Mac OS X is not entirely an open source operating system (but has a BSD-like UNIX core), my advocacy remains intact. The XServes can run both Mac OS X and the open source Linux operating systems. Should the technical staff decide, Linux can still be installed. To date, not a single XServe has been installed with Linux, at least in UP Diliman.
Our services, e.g. mail, proxy, etc., all run on open source server software, which are all running on top of Mac OS X. There are some minor configuration and setup differences but they are running the same MySQL, Squid, Apache server software. Open source? YES!
In addition, the XServes enabled each UP constituent university to have their own QuickTime Streaming service to web cast their lectures, concerts, events, etc. on the internet. This is something that is quite expensive, when done with third-party solutions and quite complicated with open source solutions.
So there you have it. The real story behind UP’s XServe purchase.
As my friend would say, “Thanks to my detractors. Strangely you have become my inspiration. You continue to provide me with challenges that I’m having fun dealing
with.” And this is exactly how I feel right now… having fun! 
technorati tags:xserve, UP, UniversityOfThePhilippines
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